How the Announcement May Affect You

FILE - This undated family photo provided by Shonn Hild shows landscape company owner Shonn Hild of Sullivan, Ill., in a family snapshot with his wife, Christy, and two children, 2-year-old Beckett and 7-month-old Harper. Hild recently received notice from his insurance company that the health policy covering him and his two children would be canceled. On Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, President Barack Obama shifted course to allow insurers to renew health plans they planned to cancel. Hild says Obama's proposal may be "too little, too late." He said he called Blue Cross after the president's announcement and was told the company is gathering information. But "as of right now they do not have any plans to bring back the discontinued plans. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Shonn Hild)

In this photo taken Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013 enrollment counselor Nancy Gonzalez, left, helps the Alejo family, Hugo, left, his wife , Emedtiat and daughter Karla, 11, right, sign up for health insurance through the California's new health insurance exchange in Sacramento, Calif. Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, announced Nov. 13, 2013, that nearly 35,000 people had signed-up for health insurance during the first month of open enrollment, from Oct. 1 through Nov. 2.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Among other things, these protections prohibit insurers from turning down sick customers and require all health plans to offer a basic set of benefits, including prescription drug, hospitalization and maternity coverage.

Many health plans that were on the market did not offer these protections.

Q: How many people had these kinds of health plans?

A: It is difficult to say. Approximately 15 million people have a health insurance plan that they or their family bought on the open market. (Most Americans get health insurance either through an employer or through a government program, such as Medicare or Medicaid.)

But not all consumers on the so-called individual market received cancellation notices.

Q: Why didn’t all consumers with these plans receive cancellations?

A: Health insurers in most states have until Dec. 31 to renew health plans. If a plan is renewed before Dec. 31, it does not have to include the new protections in the health law.

Some insurance companies canceled policies up for renewal at the end of the year. But others opted to renew them early. That allowed consumers to remain on their current plan for another year, or until the end of 2014.

Q: What does the new Obama administration plan do?

A: The plan would allow some consumers to remain on their current health plan even longer.

Instead of having to renew their current plan by Dec. 31, consumers would now have until Oct. 1, 2014. Since health plans typically last a year, that means a consumer could stay on a health plan without the new protections until Sept. 30, 2015.

Q: Would all consumers whose policies were canceled be able to do this?

A: Not necessarily.

Insurance companies that have sent cancellation notices would have to offer those consumers the option to renew. Many insurers are reluctant to do this because they have already created new plans for next year.

State insurance regulators would also have to sign off. That, too, could be very complicated. Many states have enacted laws that require all health insurance policies to meet the standards in the Affordable Care Act starting Jan. 1.

Obama administration officials said states can choose whether to allow current health plans to be extended. And it’s up to the insurance companies whether they want to renew the policies.

Q: Would consumers who have received cancellation notices be better off buying insurance through the new Obamacare online marketplaces?

A: It depends.

Some consumers would probably benefit from the law’s new protections. Some also probably will end up paying less, thanks to government subsidies. But others would have to pay more for a health plan offered in the new marketplaces. Or they may have to select a plan with a network that does not include as many doctors or hospitals.

Q: So, what effect will the administration’s announcement have?

A: That’s unclear. If many insurers are allowed by state regulators to renew existing policies and choose to do so, then fewer healthy Americans may join the new marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act.

That could destabilize these marketplaces, which rely on healthy customers to keep insurance premiums in check.

If there are not enough healthy consumers enrolled, premiums could soar in 2015.

Administration officials say they are confident that eventually more consumers will move into the marketplaces because the marketplaces will offer superior health coverage and because many consumers will qualify for government subsidies.

These subsidies will not be available to people who renew their current plans. But insurers and state regulators, concerned about destabilizing the marketplaces, are resistant to renewing canceled policies.

In the end, very few of the consumers whose policies were canceled may actually be offered the opportunity to renew.

West Lebanon — Members of Congress from the Twin States largely support President Obama’s call to let Americans keep health care plans that would not have been allowed next year under the Affordable Care Act, saying the move was necessary amid the troubled rollout of the new online insurance marketplaces. The announcement for people with individual insurance policies that carriers …

Washington — President Obama relented to pressure from the public and his own party Thursday and changed one of the bedrock requirements of the new health-care law to fulfill his promise to allow people to keep their insurance plans if they want. While the move was aimed at solving a problem that was threatening the president’s credibility and public faith …